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Just buy the Comhaltas tune books and accompanying CDs. Seriously. https://comhaltas.ie/shop/detail/foinn_ ... _volume_1/

Thank you for the link. I looked at the list of tunes and found several I know along with many I do not. The Comhaltas books are also listed on Amazon. I had spotted Grey Larsons books on there as well and had wondered if they had good selections.

Thank you

Scouter

While you're at it, and if you want to go the 'session tune' book route, also check the Orange, Red and Green books by Geraldien Cotter, Matt and Bríd Cranitch(three separate volumes). Similar but arguably the better choice.

I have been to Amazon twice now this morning. This looks interesting too. Thank you Mr. Gumby. I see another bookshelf puchase in my near future!

Several of these have CDs with them as well. I have not been a big YouTube person until I started researching ITM. It is helpful to have CDs and videos to see how others treat the tunes one is studying.

Scouter

It is helpful to have CDs and videos to see how others treat the tunes one is studying.

It is, but, from a stylistic point of view, it's perhaps better to hear a solo player than session recordings (like the Comhaltas book /CD will give you).

Hrrrm m m

I humbly suggest that learning a few common tunes for first visiting a session is a really good idea. If you hover near the circle and have an instrument case, a lot of times you'll be asked to start something. At least around here. Having "universal donor" tunes can't hurt. You can always start a set with something a bit less generic, and then finish with something common.

But . . . bring a recording device, a note pad, or both, and get the tunes in that session that you like.

when I was starting out, (pre-internet), I found a nearby session that was welcoming, and for the most part allowed recording devices. I sat in on the session regularly, asked a lot of questions about the tunes being played, and recorded as many as I could. The more I showed up, the better it got. I got a feel for the different players in the session, some were very generous and helpful, and found a few others, who like me, were doing more learning than playing. Over the course of time, and a lot of home practice, I gradually could join in. the best part of just sitting in and listening and learning, is I got a better sense of timing and rhythm of the different tunes - the 'feel' of the live music as played by experienced players. This was probably the best thing that I learnt and could not have learnt on my own.
For example, I learnt the reel "the silver spear" on my own. However, the way that I played "The silver spear" and the way the session played the same tune was very different. I did not have the sense of timing and rhythm that made the tune sound decent when I played it on my own. It was lacking. I realized along the way that by showing up regularly to listen and learn, I was learning to get 'a feel of the music' more than just the 'notes of a tune'.

Mr. Gumby,

I got the set. I found a flute friend nearby and we are going to begin playing together with the Orange book as our common repertoire.

The Comhaltas books are next!

Scouter

I was fortunate enough to attend the Cruinniu na BhFluiit in Ballyvourney last week. Here is an incomplete list of some of the tunes played in the sessions. The players playing these tunes included Conal O'Grada,Aoife Granville,Desi Wilkinson,Michael Clarkson,Paul McGrattan and Hammy Hamilton and they weren't above playing the more common tunes.


Sligo Maid
Saddle the Pony
Lark in the Morning
New Copperplate
Rights of Man
Plains of Boyle
The Woodcock
Kerfunten
Ryans
Kid on the Mountain
Walls of Liscarroll
Pigtown Fling
Sporting Paddy
Congress Reel
Battering Ram
Michael Cranes
Miss McGuiness
Trip to Birmingham
Torn Jacket
Otter's Holt
Cup of Tea
High Reel
Gander in the Pratie Hole
Fr O'Grady's Visit to Bocca
Rambling Pitchfork
Christmas Eve
Leitrim Fancy
Shaskeen
Greengate
Joe Cooley's Reel
Stack the Barley
Joe Cooley's Jig
Shoe the Donkey
Banish Misfortune
Cook in the Kitchen
Miss McLeod's
Kesh Jig
Maid Behind the Bar
Devanney's Goat
Jim Ward's Jig
Frost is All Over
Maid on the Green
Flowers of Edinburgh
Out on the Ocean
Blarney Pilgrim
Killavil Fancy
Boyle Hunt
Maid of Mt Cisco
Providence Reel
Girl With Blue Dress On
My Love is But a Lassie
Connaught Man's Rambles
Dingle Regatta
Humours of Ennistymon
Silver Spear
Pigtown
Moneymusk
Casey's Pig
Boys of Belfast
Skylark
Roaring Mary
Far From Home
If There Weren't Any Women in the World
Primrose Lass
Over Bog Road
Castlebar Races
John Brosnan's
Number 5
The Pathan Dance
Hills of Tara
Hillsdown Orange Hall
Atholl Highlanders
Lakes of Sligo

Wow, that is quite a list.

Thank you for noting all of those for us.

It was good to meet up with you again, Normski. We were at some different sessions - my list would be a bit different. One thing worth mentioning, I think, is that if you look at your list, they are all old / old-ish tunes - no "funky modern" ones by present day composers who shall remain nameless. There are a few exceptions, of course - you have Hammy's jigs there, and Connie O'Connell's "Torn Jacket". There were certainly some of Josie McDermott's tunes played, not unexpected at a flute gathering, and I heard 1 tune by Paddy Fahy, and 1 by Tony "Sully" Sullivan. All the others, over the 8 sessions I was involved with would be classed as "traditional". Were we bored ? Not a bit of it.
I have mentioned elsewhere on this website that I host a local community radio programme here in Aberdeen. I used the trip to Ballyvourney as an excuse to play some flute tracks on the first half of last week's programme, so if you want to hear tracks by "Hammy", Conal O'Grada & Colm Murphy and Aoife Granville, use the "listen again" facility around the middle of this web-page.

http://www.shmu.org.uk/fm/shows/wednesday-session

I'll be doing the same again next week.

Mr.Gumby wrote:While you're at it, and if you want to go the 'session tune' book route, also check the Orange, Red and Green books by Geraldien Cotter, Matt and Bríd Cranitch(three separate volumes). Similar but arguably the better choice.

This is also a great suggestion.

If you buy the Comhaltas books and CDs and learn them then you'll be able to play in any session in the world and enjoy it.

Normski wrote:I was fortunate enough to attend the Cruinniu na BhFluiit in Ballyvourney last week. Here is an incomplete list of some of the tunes played in the sessions. The players playing these tunes included Conal O'Grada,Aoife Granville,Desi Wilkinson,Michael Clarkson,Paul McGrattan and Hammy Hamilton and they weren't above playing the more common tunes.


Sligo Maid
Saddle the Pony
Lark in the Morning
New Copperplate
Rights of Man
Plains of Boyle
The Woodcock
Kerfunten
Ryans
Kid on the Mountain
Walls of Liscarroll
Pigtown Fling
Sporting Paddy
Congress Reel
Battering Ram
Michael Cranes
Miss McGuiness
Trip to Birmingham
Torn Jacket
Otter's Holt
Cup of Tea
High Reel
Gander in the Pratie Hole
Fr O'Grady's Visit to Bocca
Rambling Pitchfork
Christmas Eve
Leitrim Fancy
Shaskeen
Greengate
Joe Cooley's Reel
Stack the Barley
Joe Cooley's Jig
Shoe the Donkey
Banish Misfortune
Cook in the Kitchen
Miss McLeod's
Kesh Jig
Maid Behind the Bar
Devanney's Goat
Jim Ward's Jig
Frost is All Over
Maid on the Green
Flowers of Edinburgh
Out on the Ocean
Blarney Pilgrim
Killavil Fancy
Boyle Hunt
Maid of Mt Cisco
Providence Reel
Girl With Blue Dress On
My Love is But a Lassie
Connaught Man's Rambles
Dingle Regatta
Humours of Ennistymon
Silver Spear
Pigtown
Moneymusk
Casey's Pig
Boys of Belfast
Skylark
Roaring Mary
Far From Home
If There Weren't Any Women in the World
Primrose Lass
Over Bog Road
Castlebar Races
John Brosnan's
Number 5
The Pathan Dance
Hills of Tara
Hillsdown Orange Hall
Atholl Highlanders
Lakes of Sligo

This is a good list. I live in Australia (Melbourne) and it would be very common to hear most of the these tunes in a session here.

Because I feel utterly unlike working / running my many errands at the moment, here's Normski's list broken down into four categories:

1) Well known at my local session. If you announced the name of it, almost everyone would join in.
Lark in the Morning
Rights of Man
Kerfunten
Ryans (assuming this is the common polka?)
Kid on the Mountain
Congress Reel
Otter's Holt
Joe Cooley's Reel
Banish Misfortune
Kesh Jig
Maid Behind the Bar
Jim Ward's Jig
Flowers of Edinburgh
Out on the Ocean
Blarney Pilgrim
Flowers of Edinburgh
Out on the Ocean
Blarney Pilgrim
Connaught Man's Rambles
Silver Spear
Atholl Highlanders

2) I play. Not necessarily well, but I could reasonably limp through it. (I reckon seven of these are in my core repertoire.)
Sligo Maid
Saddle the Pony
New Copperplate
Walls of Liscarroll
Cup of Tea
High Reel
Gander in the Pratie Hole
Shaskeen
Cook in the Kitchen
Miss McLeod's
Frost is All Over
Boyle Hunt
Maid of Mt Cisco
Providence Reel
My Love is But a Lassie
Dingle Regatta
Humours of Ennistymon
Skylark
Roaring Mary
Lakes of Sligo

3) I've heard of. I know of this tune, may well want to learn it sometime.
Plains of Boyle
The Woodcock
Pigtown Fling
Sporting Paddy
Battering Ram
Miss McGuiness
Trip to Birmingham
Torn Jacket
Fr O'Grady's Visit to Bocca
Rambling Pitchfork
Christmas Eve
Leitrim Fancy
Stack the Barley
Joe Cooley's Jig
Shoe the Donkey
Devanney's Goat
Maid on the Green
Girl With Blue Dress On
Pigtown
Moneymusk
Far From Home
If There Weren't Any Women in the World
Primrose Lass
Over Bog Road
Castlebar Races
John Brosnan's

4) I've never heard of Going by name, did not research deeply, might know or know of under a different name.
Michael Cranes
Greengate
Killavil Fancy
Casey's Pig
Boys of Belfast
Number 5
The Pathan Dance
Hills of Tara
Hillsdown Orange Hall

No special meaning to my version of this list, just wanted to give newbies a sense of how things might be different from place to place and person to person. For what it's worth, I reckon I have on the order of 500 tunes learned.

I just started playing flute a year and a half ago. I attended the session regularly for a month before building the confidence to play a tune. My goal was to learn one tune per week. So each week, I'd discreetly ask the name of a tune that I liked the sound of, look up the notation online, then bring it to the session the following week. After about two months, I had enough repertoire to keep me in the session for the duration of the evening. The key is going regularly. It's always easier to stay home and practice, but you've gotta just bite the bullet and get out there and play.